"My name is Rajat - Final Year mechanical student and I am leading the team this year. You could say I am like the Chief editor. Now here are some of our team members". Rajat introduced everyone who had been part of the team since their first year. There were around 12 to 15 of them who were considered seniors in the writers club or what they called themselves - members of 'Lit Club'. He introduced shradha as the proofer/editor. "She comes in when we have work and mostly works with the senior team. You can say she is a freelancer than a full time member". After that it was time for the newcomers. One by one names were heard along with short description of their hobbies and why they wanted to join the Lit Club. Nishant was the last one and he was very nervous. He slowly stood up and with slightly shaky voice he said "Hi All. My name is Nishant. I am from Computer Science department - hmm First year. Looking forward to learn more from you all.
Rajast asked "So Nishant, what do you do in your free time? Tell us more about you and your hobbies. Have you written anything so far ? "
"Hmm I liked to study in my free time. I don't really have any hobbies and I have not written anything so far". Seeing how much Nishant was struggling to sound confident, Rajat did not press him much to know more. Instead he smiled continued, "Okey, Nishant, Thank you and welcome to the team. I must say I am really looking forward to read what you all will write. Please make sure you send us an email and get a printed copy of your article for the next meeting." After that, it was all about upcoming competitions and preparations for other events. The meeting continued for almost an hour with few senior members providing their updates or suggestions to the team. While all of this was happening, Shradha was sitting in a corner with bored expression on her face. She would glance or wink at Rajat once in a while. But most of the time she was on her phone or lost in thoughts. She had heard Nishant's introduction and had concluded that Nishant was weird. He had not many friends and no hobbies. It was really shocking to see him in the meeting when she had walked in. Rajat had told her after the meeting they would go for dinner and long ride. Rajat was a nice person who was genuinely interested in Shradha. He had asked her out when she first started with lit club, but Shradha declined saying she was not the relationship type. Rajat then insisted for them to be friends, which was acceptable to Shradha. So now, they would occasionally go out for dinners or early morning bike rides. This was one such 'non date' day and shraydha was waiting for the meeting to end.
After dividing the priority tasks between the members of the club, it was time to end the meeting. Someone mentioned the date and time of next meeting and everyone left the room after agreeing to the proposed time. It was a very professional meeting. In fact it looked as though none of them were college students, but real life journalists. Nishant was really happy about his decision of joining this club. He did not want to be a part of some hippie group. After gathering his book and notes, Nishant was about to leave when he heard someone talking. " You know these won't be considered for final exams, right? " when he turned, it was Shradha who was Smiling at him. Rajat was discussing something with one of the seniors and Shradha had decided to tease this nerd a little, out of pure boredom. "I know that and please excuse me. I am late." Not wanting to engage in conversation with Shradha, Nishant hurriedly left the room. "What a scared little bunny" was all that Shradha could think of.
After going home, Nishant was thinking of topics for his essay. Sheela had told him to think of something serious, which would show how dedicated he was towards the club. So browsing for best essay topics - sensitive and social issues was the best option. After searching for more than 2 hours, still there was no clarity on what to write. Since the next meeting was after 2 days, Nishant decided to work on the essay later and went back to studying.
Shradha reached home around 11:30 in the night. Rajat had dropped her near the usual point and she had climbed back in her room in the usual way. Shradha's father, Anil was working in real estate and her mother Kavitha was a housewife. They would qualify as upper middle class family. Anil was a typical Indian man who was an embodiment of patriarchal society. He believed that daughters are burdens who should be given minimal education and then married off. And the son of the family was the one who would take the family name ahead. Kavitha was the timid and well behaved wife who believed that her husband was god and whatever he said was right. However after giving up all her wants and needs post the marriage, Kavitha wanted her daughter to have a good life before she was married off. So within her limits she always tried to give Shradha, some leeway. Convincing her husband that Engineering degree will get them rich son-in-law was Kavitha's idea. And she had never asked Shradha where she went or what she did. That was kavitha's way of giving her daughter all the freedom needed before marriage. Kavitha would always lie to her husband saying Shradha was coming home late because she was studying at her friend's place or library. This is how Shradha had been managing her late night parties and long rides. In Shradha's mind, Kavitha never really cared about her and so was letting her off the hook. Otherwise no mother would not ask questions to her daughter about constant hangovers or love bites on her body.
While thinking about her mother, Shradha got freshened up and lied down on the bed. She logged into the game from her phone and started playing. It was her favourite game and also her distraction from the realities of the world. After some time, she started chatting with her online friends. They were the people with whom she played the game more often and they sometime discussed their personal problems. Of course they never revealed their real identities; it was just the best way of venting your frustration as a stranger would never judge you or give you unnecessary advises. It was an unofficial rule in their online team, that whenever someone wanted to share their problems, others would listen and show their support. Although Shradha never shared any of her thoughts, she often would listen to them and understand what they were going through in life. In a very small way, it comforted her to know that she was not alone and there were so many others who were struggling in life. They went on with their regular conversations about work and other things. playing the game after that. Shradha slept late that night.
Next 2 days passed rather quickly, with more mass bunks and very few classes. But Nishant's essay was still at the beginning. Topic was decided by Sheela, as she thought 'addiction and drug usage in students' was the best topic as it would create awareness among them and also would serve the purpose of showing serious effort. Various books, websites, blogs were referred. One could say how much of the Copy & Paste functionality was of use here. Somehow 800 words essay was ready; Only thing that was missing was a good ending to the essay. This was something that Nishant tried writing from scratch. After almost an hour, he could add in the summary that somehow completed the essay. Thinking "this would do for now. But I really need to improve my writing", he went to bed after spending almost 12 hours on the piece that he wrote.